Define data types to contain strings using the text data type.

Define PAscript variables with the text data type as a local or global variable.

Global Text Variables

To define a global variable in PAscript, use the text data type and the variable name in a section globals code block.

Example: Global Text Variable

program
  section globals
    text t
  endsection
  ...
endprogram

Local Text Variables

To define local text variables, specify the text data type and the maximum length of the variable. Indicate the length in parentheses.

text identifier(Length) = initialization

The initialization after the identifier is optional. If you do not specify initialization, the variable is initialized with the empty string "".

The maximum length can also be a variable of the int32 type for local text variables.

Specify non-printable characters in HEX. For example, specify 0x3 for ETX (End of Text).

Example: Local Text Variable

program
  text t(10)  // content of variable is ""
  text t1(11) = "Hello" + "X"  // corresponds to "Hello X"
  text t2(1) = 0x15
endprogram

Text as Parameter of a User-Defined Function

If you use the text data type as a parameter of a user-defined function, only the data type is used. No maximum text length is specified.

Example: Text as a Parameter of a User-Defined Function

program

  section globals
    text a
  endsection
  myTextFunction(a)
endprogram

function myTextFunction(text t)
  text localText(500)
  localText = t
  sys:logInfo(sys:ui,"%s",localText)
endfunction

Operators

Link text using the + operator.

Note If the target text is completely written, the remaining link operators are ignored.

Example: + Operator

program

  section globals
    // global variables
    text target, source
  endsection

  target = "Hello" + "world" + "\n" + source
endprogram

Special Characters

Use umlauts and most of the printable special characters in variables of the text type without restrictions. One exception is the backslash \. The backslash serves as an escape character and must be masked for the output in a text with an additional backslash.

Table 51. Output of Escape Sequences
Escape Sequence Output
\n Change to the next line
\r Start with the first character of the current line
\0 NULL character
\\ Output of the backslash in the text